About HCA

Mission, Vision, and Values

Mission

The mission of Heritage Christian Academy is to glorify God by serving Christian parents and their children while providing a high quality, Christ-centered educational program marked by academic excellence, and the development of a Biblical worldview and strong Christian character.

Vision

The Vision for Heritage Christian Academy is a school where Jesus Christ is preeminent, and God is acknowledged as the One who created all things, sustains all things, and works all things for His glory and our good. We honor the name of Christ by achieving excellence at all levels and developing the skills of our students to their fullest potential. These skills are developed deeply and broadly through biblically-rooted instruction in academics, fine arts, and athletics. In partnership with the Christian families and churches throughout our community, HCA instills in our students an attitude of servant leadership so that they are equipped to engage and transform the culture for Christ wherever God calls them.

Core Values

Core values are the school's guiding principles that direct the school in fulfilling its mission. These essential and enduring tenets are not to be compromised for financial or short-term expediency. Core values define a school's culture. As an overview of who we are, we share with you our core values, beliefs which are reflected in our actions because they are deeply embedded in our identity as a school.

Heritage Christian Academy seeks to provide a Christ-centered education with academic excellence in a nurturing environment with a strong Christian community.

At Heritage Christian Academy we believe the Bible contains the foundation for all truth and learning and specifically, the truth about the origins of all of creation. In addition, the Bible contains the truth about Christ, God, the Holy Spirit and the plan of salvation.

"Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will." - Romans 12:2

Our approach to education is to use the Bible as the foundation for learning, while guiding our students in conforming to the image of Christ. In order to be part of this process usable to God through the work of the Holy Spirit, the teaching and curriculum must always point to God's sovereignty and the Bible as our ultimate authority.

All truth is God's truth and all gifts, talents and academic abilities come from God. Consequently, the subject matter taught to our students should reflect this view. Our Christ-centered instruction should provide a fundamental understanding of the role of the Gospel in our lives.

The Gospel in our lives is summarized by Charles Spurgeon as knowledge for the head, love for the heart and guidance for our steps.

At Heritage, our goal is to pursue a standard of excellence in the instruction of our children.

"For by Him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him." - Colossians 1:16

This standard is fulfilled by the following four goals:

Focusing on Fundamentals - Heritage values the importance of teaching the basics which are the building blocks for learning. We recognize that our students enter education with individual strengths and weaknesses. It is our goal to identify those strengths and weaknesses and try to encourage and build different areas.

Consistency in Curriculum - Our curriculum is the basis for what we believe is the highest quality instruction available. We believe that once a curriculum has been chosen, it should be followed consistently through the various grades. We do not change curriculum unless standardized test scores or other feedback highlight a weakness.

Functioning in an Orderly Manner - Heritage seeks to be run in an orderly manner. Classroom and playground control will be maintained by our teachers in the context of providing a nurturing environment. All student discipline issues are dealt with redemptively, modeling repentance and forgiveness. In this process of discipling we always keep the view of progress, not perfection.

Encouraging Mutual Respect between Staff and Students - We believe that students should respect the authority of the teachers and should treat the teachers in a respectful manner. Similarly, we believe that teachers should treat students in a respectful manner. The foundation of this respect should be a love for one another that we have as members of the Body of Christ.

Nurturing Environment

The goal of our School is to instill a love of learning in our children. Providing a caring and nurturing environment is the best way to instill a love of learning. Love for others, and specifically a loving, nurturing attitude conveyed to our children by our teachers, is consistent with, and a reflection of, our command to reflect Christ's grace and sacrifice. As Francis Schaeffer states, love is the "mark of a Christian."

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." - 1 John 3: 16

The goal of Christian education is to develop and foster disciples of Christ who "love the Lord God with all (their) heart, soul, mind and strength" - Mark 12:30. In order to develop followers of Christ in our students, our teachers need to model a growing relationship with Christ. Education must focus on the individual student: the goal is to develop the potential of each child. Each child is created in the image of God and is important and unique. To the extent possible, we need to understand and focus on the educational needs of each individual child.

"And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded." - 1 John 3:23

Strong Community

Heritage is a community and we frequently refer to ourselves as the Heritage family. As a family, we share the common joys and struggles of raising our children. As we continue on this journey together, we form relationships that are strong and sometimes lifelong. This core value of family or community is developed intentionally by the efforts of many. There is great parental involvement in the School, with strong volunteer commitment. As the community grows stronger, so does the school. Our School will continue to be distinctive when our community models Christ's love for each other.

"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body." - 1 Cor. 12:12

Heritage Christian Academy admits students of any sex, race, color or national and ethnic origins to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex or national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admission policies, and athletic and other school-administered programs.